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EDITOR'S PICK
Rating: ****
It`s an old cliche that the world is what it is not because of bad men, but
because of good men who watch and do nothing. We all have a strong sense of
personal justice. But ask yourself if you saw something so wrong happening with
others that it churns your guts, would you poke your nose into it?
Even if you did, how far would you go? Far enough to risk your life and limb?
Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz), a US police officer in Bosnia on a UN
peacekeeping mission, discovers that her own colleagues are involved in a sex
and trafficking racket of young women.
She interferes, not realising it to be an international conspiracy. She soon
finds herself to be a lone fighter against a system that involves the military,
MNCs and governments.
The history of the world is usually about emperors and dictators. But a footnote
of history is dominated by misfits who refuse to be mute spectators. They are
first coaxed, bribed and then beaten and often killed by the system they
threaten.
But make no mistakes, it is these who stand up and blow the whistle. It`s these
who count in the end. For they break through impregnable walls, bruised and
battered in battle they still carry on. And though their head may be cut, it
remains unbowed to the injustice around.
Whatever good exists in the world, it is largely due to these maverick
whistleblowers who defy even their own puny stature to try the impossible.
This film does both, pays homage to their indomitable courage, and recounts
their impossible travails.
"The Whistleblower" works because it plays like a thriller. It does an
extremely good job in building up dramatic tension, even though the creative
liberty taken from the real story may feel improbable in the end.
Rachel Weisz`s right mix of innocent vulnerability and inner strength carries
the film forward and gives out the message that justice often needs to be an
inside job.
The good thing about US whistleblower films is that a viewer knows beforehand
that the protagonist will win in the end. Americans, after all, are known to
celebrate success. Reality, however, is slightly different. In the real world,
the people in the true story on which the film is based roam free.
Thankfully, this little injustice will not deter those who seek justice for
others. For whistleblowers in truth are the vigilante superheroes of the real
world. And their superpowers include an indomitable will, a passion for justice
and a belief that what they do matters. To these men and women, we truly owe the
world.